The ticking hands of the clock on the wall seemed to turn in slow motion. It was 10 in the morning and the moving bodies throughout the building were functioning like energized rabbits.
Behind the closed doors of Ballard's office were a group of 7 people, the smallest of the bunch sat back in the office chair spinning around in circles, while the others watched with curious eyes.
The older man was perched on his desks top, his legs crossed as he analyzed the younger girl with a sad smile on his aging face.
Jace was the first to speak from his spot by the window his dark eyes still on Alix, "So.."
The injured girl stopped spinning the chair and faced the group of people, who she had come to know as: Charity, the bubbly brunette technical analyst, Jace, the stupid con artist, Tatiana, the fiery redheaded soldier, Mike, the steely blue eyed assassin, and Damon, the FBI's golden boy.
Alix blinked several times before she found herself in fit of laughter, her child like giggles rang in Damon's ear like a poisonous melody.
Everyone in the room watched, but said nothing.
She was in shock.
After Ballard explained everything that happened in the last 10 and half years, minus Damon, she began to spin in the chair and stayed that way for over 8 minutes.
Gathering herself, Alix wiped her tears and sat back in the chair. "So you mean to tell me.. everyone I've ever known was murdered, I was framed for said murders, I somehow lost all my memories of anytime after I was 16, the entirety of the US government was looking for me, and I'm 26 years old?"
Mike scratched the back of his head, "well when you put it like that- yes to all of those."
Alix blinked and released a heavy sigh, slumping down further in the cushioned seat.
"I know it's a lot to take in-"
"Wow really? I haven't noticed." She stood up and scratched at the wild coils adorning her head. Pacing back and forth she had a million thoughts running through her head.
Only one person was bold enough to set something like that up.
She wasn't safe.
People were after her.
Where was she going to go?
Who was she going to go to?
She had no one left to turn to.
Alix turned towards Ballard with an unreadable expression, "did they suffer?"
He couldn't answer. He didn't want to feed her lies, he didn't want to tell her what she wanted to hear, it wouldn't do her any good in the end.
"I'm sorry kid."
Alix nods swallowing the lump that formed in her throat. She slowly drags her eyes away from the older man and towards the other bodies in the room.
Damon watches from afar and noticed, that somewhere between the time they entered the room to now, something in Alix shifted, her eyes were distant and cold.
A chill ran down Tatiana's spine when she saw the way the younger girl's demeanor changed, her eyes began to ignite with a fire she knew all to well.
The deathly silence had everyone on edge, waiting for the next words that would more than likely determine what course of action they would take.
Alix spoke, her words not shocking to only the team of five, but also Ballard himself.
"When do we start?"
*
"-after you have graduated from the academy you will then-"
"Let me stop you right there Bubbles." Alix interrupts Charity's rant rubbing her temple in soothing circles, "that was very sweet of you to tell me all about joining the fbi, but that ain't my cup of tea."
"Raise up off her cp, she has years of training under her belt, she'd pass all the tests in a heartbeat." Jace speaks throwing his muscled arm over Charity's sweater clad shoulder.
Alix's small eyes roam around the debriefing room with a bored expression settled across her face, the bruises littered across her body ached, but not so much to where the pain was unbearable.
If this were any other person they would be under the influence of over 10 different pain medications, but not Alix.
The sound of a door closing caught her attention, then the soft aroma of men's cologne wafted through her nostrils and found itself wrapping around her brain.
The smell, although foreign, was somehow familiar, it was warm and cozy, soft and sweet, it made her feel at home, but for the love of god it drove her crazy, why did a smell make her brain work so hard until it felt like steam was spewing through her ears? It's as if she could almost describe what the smell was, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.
A thick manilla folder was laid out on top of the table before her, finally looking up, Alix's brown eyes are met by forest green eyes.
Ah, this guy.
She thought, as she sat back and openly stared at the beautiful man before her. Alix is far from dumb, she remembers that when she first stepped foot into the debriefing room, there were pictures scattered about the table.
Pictures that he fought, so hard for her not to see.
𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 in 𝑡ℎose photos, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑒 them away 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 ℎ𝑒𝑟 ?
The blonde man stood before Alix, unmoving, before he cleared his throat catching the attention of his other team members.
Everyone stood around the oval shaped table waiting to hear what their next move was going to be.
"Firstly," Damon started, eyes moving from Alix's to around the room at the other members, "I would like to welcome the newest member to our team." His forest eyes cut back to Alix's, and he watches for a second as she continues to stare at him with an unreadable expression.
A lump forms in Damons throat, but he swallows it down, continuing with his small speech. "It's going to be a while before Ballard lets you in the field-"
"I'm fine." She interrupts lifting her eyes from the wooden table. Damon stands up straighter, a thin line set on his plump lips.
He knows Alix, knows her like an open book, but... he doesn't know this Alix. Yet.
"You need to heal-"
"Okay."
"Like I was saying-"
"I'm healed, but you may continue."
Somewhere around the table Jace released a child like snicker, followed by a slap upside the head from Tatiana.
Damon fights back a smirk as he opens the folder and begins to speak again. "Seattle, Washington. Six women have gone missing over the course of 2 months. Cp you wanna take it from here?"
"Of course." The brunette girl stands with a remote in her hand and points it towards the wide television screen. Damon takes a seat beside Alix with his eyes trained on the screen before them.
"Over the past 2 months, Six women have gone missing in the Seattle area. The police believe that there is a connection between the six women-."
"Well that's obvious," Alix mumbles to herself flipping through the pictures of all six women. She had taken the folder off the table the moment everyone's eyes were trained on Bubbles.
"They all have the same physical appearance: young, slim and fit, long blonde hair, blue eyes. All victims taken from their suburban homes in the middle of the night? They should've contacted y'all 4 victims ago. Either they dumb as hell or they just weren't doin' they job."
Silence filled the room and Alix was wondering why- lifting her eyes from the contexts of the folder she noticed everyone's attention was on her.
She blinked several times before closing the folder and slowly sliding it back onto the middle of the table, as if she hadn't touched it.
"Sorry." She chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her neck. "Do continue Clarinet."
"That's not my name- uh yes all of the women looked the same physically and were all taken from their suburban homes in the middle of the night." Charity continued, clicking away at the buttons on the remote. With every click a new face would appear on the screen, but with every face, a life was lost.
Alix sat back in her chair watching as how, with every face that appeared on the screen, 'DECEASED', would be written across their faces, not even 2 seconds later. It was scary, how within such little time so many women were abducted and killed, with not a single lead in the investigation.
"Out of the six women, four are already dead. Whoever is doing this is moving, and damn fast." Mike spoke, a horrified expression on his face.
The team of five, now six, sat around in deep thought, many were trying to figure out why it had taken Seattle Police so long to contact them, when so many women were missing, and now, dead.
Damon stood from his seat and fixed his button up, "when the plane lands, Jace."
"Yessir."
"You and Mike go to the first scene of abduction."
Both Mike and Jace stood on their feet and began collecting the necessary documents.
"Tatiana, you and Charity set up space back at the Police Station."
"You got it boss."
"And, Alix." Damon spoke this time in a much tighter voice then previously, making direct eye contact with who he was speaking to. The person in question stared at the man before her, his bright green irises pierced through her chocolate colored orbs, with so many unnamed emotions it made his head spin.
"You're with me. We leave in 30."